In 2004 Hurricane
Ivan slammed into the western Florida panhandle, doing serious
damage to the area. Due to widespread power outages and damage to
fueling stations, Florida DOT asked Florida Rock & Tank Lines to
provide temporary fueling stations to enable DOT, FEMA, State Fire
Marshal, Florida Highway Patrol and other state organizations to
continue functioning during the cleanup. Temporary gas pumps were
hooked up to the unloading heads of the tankers, making the special
fueling operations very successful.

FLORIDA TRUCKERS DAY AT THE CAPITOL

The Governor and Cabinet of the State of
Florida declared April 16, 2008, as TRUCKERS DAY in the State of Florida.
Florida Departments of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Agriculture and Consumer
Services and Transportation were commended for their demonstrated commitment
to economic prosperity and industry safety and to raising the awareness of
the importance of the trucking industry to all Floridians.

The industry features trucks
moving freight safely and efficiently to every community throughout Florida;
and commercial truck traffic is vital to our Nation’s economic prosperity
and plays a significant role in mitigating adverse economic effects during a
national or regional emergency. Our economy depends on trucks to deliver ten
billion tons of virtually every commodity consumed, or nearly 70 percent of
all freight transported annually by weight and nearly 85 percent of all
freight transported annually by value. Travel by large trucks increased by
150% from 1998 to 2004, while the rate of large truck crash fatalities
declined by 60%, based on miles driven and is near all-time recorded lows.
The trucking industry in Florida has been represented by the Florida
Trucking Association (FTA) since 1934 and FTA’s Road Team, composed of
professional drivers of member companies, conducts and presents safe driving
classes to driver education students, civic groups and other public entities
across Florida through its “Share the Road Safely with Big Trucks” program.

Florida law enforcement officers inspected 84,160 trucks in 2006, and
weighed 14.5 million trucks at Florida’s 25 fixed weigh stations and out of
every 1,000 trucks inspected, only 3 were found in violation of weight
restrictions